This strongly flavored cousin to onions, shallots, leeks, and chives grows underground and releases most of its flavor once it has been crushed, chopped, pressed, or pureed. Another variety, green garlic, is actually classic garlic that has not fully matured.

How to buy:

Look for firm, plump bulbs with dry skin. Avoid bulbs with shriveled skins, sprouting, or skins that cover the cloves loosely (an indication that the garlic has dried out and shrunk).

How to store:

You do not need to store garlic in the refrigerator. Keep it in an open container in a cool, dark spot. Unbroken bulbs can last up to 2 months, but cloves broken from the bulb keep for only a few days. If your garlic starts to sprout a little, it's okay to use it, but cut out the green sprout because it has a bitter taste.

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How to prepare garlic:

To separate a whole head of garlic quickly, wrap it in a dish towel and give it a good thwack with a heavy frying pan. The cloves will fall away from each other easily, and the dish towel will keep them together and prevent them from getting bruised.

To remove the skin from a clove, place the clove on a cutting board and hit it with the flat side of a chef's knife just enough to bruise it. After that, the peel will come off easily.

Some recipes will ask you to mash garlic to a paste in a bowl or mortar. Up your game with a pro-style trick: Try mashing the garlic with a chef's knife. Combine a chopped clove and coarse salt on a cutting board. With the blade at a 45-degree angle to the work surface, bear down on the garlic and salt. Use the same motion you would to butter bread, twisting your wrist and using the top half of the knife blade. Mash on, and soon you'll have a creamy paste.

How to roast garlic:

To roast a full head: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Cut off the top of the garlic bulb. Pull off any loose skin, wrap the bulb in aluminum foil, and set it on a baking sheet. Bake the garlic until it's soft when poked with a knife, 30-45 minutes.

To roast cloves:

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Place unpeeled cloves in a single layer in a small ovenproof dish. Drizzle some olive oil and a tablespoon of water over the garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Cover the dish with foil. Bake garlic until it's tender, about 50 minutes. Peel the cloves and mash as needed, or, for a puree, put them in a food processor and through a sieve.